In a time of pandemonium following the recent War Without Kings, even the most peaceful settlements must be forever vigilant. Behind every shadow there is danger, behind every speech there is equivocation. While the common men, elves, and orcs see light once again in the aftermath of a horrible war, they know that it is but a facade. These are dark times, and the Great Lake has yet to see the last of its ripples. War is all that is on the horizon.

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Battles in DOF are no simple process. Attackers may retreat during a battle and come back in even greater numbers. It is up to the defender to be ready for their return - by repairing walls and buildings, replenishing troops, and setting up formations.

matter how players choose to rule their settlement, conflict will play a defining role in their strategy. Will they seek out to dominate Mythador? Will they be able to defend their towns in a minute's notice? Will they avenge a fallen king or prove their loyalty to a doubted elven princess? Or will they fall to the onslaught of darker ambitions?

Lay Siege, one of the many ways to play Dawn of Fantasy, gives players the chance to try out their combat skills on an enemy stronghold - in either a practice setting or in the persistent online arena. In the massively multiplayer "Online Kingdom" and the single-player "Kingdom Wars" worlds, players train and command armies of 1,000 strong. These armies can be tasked to either defend their own town or to raze other strongholds by means of traveling the World Map, a scale 3D representation of the game world. Upon reaching a player or NPC town on the map, armies are given the opportunity to declare war and engage in all-out combat.

After declaring war, the player's army will be taken inside of the instanced map of the stronghold they wish to attack. After deciding which direction to attack from, players are free to do whatever it takes to become victorious - which, in the skirmish mode, involves breaking into the inner keep and killing the king unit. Task troops carefully, making good use of micromanagement tactics and special abilities, or charge in for a rush attack. Larger strongholds have at least one layer of heavy wall which presents an attacker's first big obstacle.

Make sure to bring along enough siege weapons for this deadly task - ram down the gates, scale the walls with siege towers and ladders, or crush the walls with heavy ranged siege. Scaling the wall is often the quickest option, but can also result in the most casualties. Once over the wall, attacking units can be tasked to destroy the gate cranks, opening the gate from the inside. Once in the stronghold, the player must take the inner keep or destroy enough of the enemy units for a successful siege.

This, of course, is easier said than done. Attacking armies must be prepared to march through volleys of fire arrows, boiling oil traps, and trebuchet fire. Protect your siege weapons and hero at all costs through defensive schiltron formations. Conserve your troops, and do not be afraid to pull back when necessary to make it through the multiple layers of walls and choke points in the larger AI and player strongholds.

Warg-riding enemy reinforcements charge in to protect their chief. An entire field goes up in flames in a mere second from the orcish burning oil ruse. Man-eating plants strike from nowhere, instantly devouring some of your best units. The arrows of a hundred covered archers rain down on your troops. A dragon mercenary swoops down from the heavens, burning your sorcerers to a crisp. Not too mention the army of a thousand-strong waiting just behind the gate....

While the objectives of combat are simple enough, Dawn of Fantasy offers a plethora of more advanced mechanics for the strategic gamer. Each race offers a different offensive style, while each unit brings its own bonuses into the battle field. Use wizards to summon the elements to create a distraction, and carefully manage your single hero unit to heal your troops. Carefully allocate skill points to increase that stats of leveled-up units, and adjust battalion formations to fit the scenario - all human and orc units have special fatigue-draining formations which can easily alter the battle, while elven formations require more planning and must be arranged ahead of time but can never be overestimated. Practice makes perfect, and the quick-paced skirmish mode provides a prime arena for trying out new strategies.

Apart from the standard stronghold sieges, players may also attack, or be attacked, in the vast wilderness of the game world or set up army camps for week-long epic warfare:

Armies traveling across the

With Dawn of Fantasy's newest feature, players can pitch army camps next to enemy strongholds, giving them a forward base from which they can launch attacks or pull back to for longer battles.

World Map can send scouts too survey the nearby region for other traveling armies and trade caravans. Upon spotting a suitable match, armies can engage in combat over open terrain with natural defenses until only one player advances as the victor. At any point, in either field or stronghold battles, defending players can opt out of combat by paying tribute to the attacker. Doing so will establish a temporary peace between the two players.

When approaching an enemy stronghold, invading armies are given the chance to set up forward base camps adjacent to the stronghold they wish to attack. While this costs a significant amount of resources, it gives the player a chance to send in as many invading waves as it takes. March an army from the camp to the enemy town, break down the first gate, and retreat once you hear the battle cries of approaching enemy reinforcements. In the safety of your camp, muster up enough strength to attack again until the town is yours. Time your attacks carefully as the enemy will regenerate and train new troops in between waves. Take time to heal your units and form a battle plan, but wait too long and your enemy will have repaired any damage done to its stronghold.

Dawn of Fantasy is proud to offer some of the most elaborate and bloodiest siege combat seen in the RTS genre to date - do you have what it takes?

Wolverine80

02-18-2011 05:24 PM

wow this look great :D

Neutral884nz

02-18-2011 05:27 PM

Looking really good, though will defending armys be able to leave their castle and come out to destroy the attacking armys camp?

darthterror

02-19-2011 04:57 AM

:eek: awesome, I'm going to retire my Medieval II TW jajajaja

Paffp

02-19-2011 11:59 AM

oh...

When I first seen the videos for this game, I saw better graphics, then i did on those orcs, and the map. I hope theres alot more inprovement there, I was turned away a little by some of those pictures.

1) the photo could be to close and blured I don't know how, not shure.

2) the orcs look like there smothened minecraft players. (the arms look a bit block like to me and the lack of detail on them made me sigh as I thought I found a great game in the making.)

Wolverine80

02-19-2011 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paffp
(Post 44810)

When I first seen the videos for this game, I saw better graphics, then i did on those orcs, and the map. I hope theres alot more inprovement there, I was turned away a little by some of those pictures.

1) the photo could be to close and blured I don't know how, not shure.

2) the orcs look like there smothened minecraft players. (the arms look a bit block like to me and the lack of detail on them made me sigh as I thought I found a great game in the making.)

Yeah and this is so weird..cause in some pics the graphic seem more good and others seem less detailed as you sayd..maybe cause is too close,blured or took with a different resolution.Also after i watched the last gameplay video,it seem good enough the graphic...i dunno what else say...

arcangelpa3

02-20-2011 01:44 AM

i see graphical advancement every other pic i look at this looks great, cant wait

LegeN

02-20-2011 03:06 PM

I think that this game will make history, and will be one of the most played games in internet. Its a great proyect and i can't wait to plaaay!!!!

Bairdo

02-24-2011 02:19 PM

I agree that some of the pics did look a little "off" lets just hope it was a bit blurred or just or maybe just a shot from a beta..

Lord Marcus

02-24-2011 02:29 PM

Wow these are some epic photos of the game! if this is what the game really looks like on high gaphics settings im giving it a 10 out of 10